"Ugh... Haa...!"
"..."
"Uuuhhh!"
"..."
"S-Slow down... Haa... If we go slowly, won't... Ughhh!"
"...Really."
…Unbelievable.
Sighing at her words, I stopped walking, and Yukki, who had been walking beside , also ca to a halt.
She turned her head and said,
"Lack of exercise."
"...Huaaa..."
A zombie-like figure was staggering toward us along the path we had just walked.
"Screech! ...Oh, it's a person. I thought it was a monster."
A hiker coming from the opposite direction stopped dead when he saw Da-eun, surprised, then let out a sigh of relief.
Looking as if he'd seen a ghost, he passed us, casting quick glances back at Da-eun until he turned the corner and disappeared from view.
He was probably wondering if Da-eun was really a zombie.
How startled must he have been to react like that?
"Here."
anwhile, Da-eun had caught up with us. I handed her my water bottle, and she silently took it.
There was no thank you, but I wasn't upset by it.
I’m not soone who would expect that from soone who had almost died and narrowly survived.
"Drink slowly."
You could choke like that.
If it were usual, Da-eun would have said sothing like, "Kanaya, you're so kind..." or "This is so touching!" But instead, she was gulping down the water without a word.
It’s surprising that she wasn’t choking while drinking that fast.
"...Hahh!"
Da-eun emptied half the bottle in an instant.
"Now, I feel like I can breathe..."
She wiped her mouth and spoke.
"It’s not that I’m out of shape. You guys are just walking too fast. Didn’t you see how the people earlier were shocked?"
"Then I guess those people are out of shape too."
"...Yukki, the world isn't as simple as you think. Have you ever considered that maybe you’re the one overexercising, not the rest of us?"
"Nope, I haven’t."
"I thought so."
Ah, Yukki. Always the sa.
Da-eun, shaking her head with a little chuckle, returned the water bottle to .
"You drank well. Thanks."
"Yeah."
"But didn’t I drink too much? What if I get thirsty later?"
"You won’t die just from being thirsty."
"When you say that, it doesn’t sound like a joke…"
"Huh?"
I tilted my head.
"Don’t give that 'I was serious' look."
"I was serious."
"...I didn’t an for you to actually say it."
"But I was serious."
Even if I went without food or water for a few days, I wouldn’t be weak enough to die from it.
"That’s not weakness, that’s just normal..."
Da-eun sighed deeply, wearing an exasperated expression.
"Both you and Yukki. Why is it that there are no normal people around ?"
"I think you know the answer to that."
"Not at all~?"
With her elongated tone, it seed like Da-eun understood what I ant.
But she pretended not to, looking around as if she didn’t get it.
And out of all of us, the most unusual person was clearly Da-eun herself.
I guess people really can’t see themselves objectively.
But even though I thought that, the words I said were sothing different.
"So, do you dislike it?"
"...Huh?"
"Being surrounded by us."
"S-Suddenly...?"
Startled by my sudden question, Da-eun flailed her arms.
"...How could I dislike it! You’re so cute like this..."
"Does that an you would dislike it if I weren’t cute?"
"Ah, are you playing with again?"
If you play, you should face the consequences!
Da-eun’s lips curled into a mischievous grin.
"Ah."
At the sa ti, my body was lifted.
The person who had been near death just monts ago felt like soone else.
Without any warning, Da-eun picked up and swayed helplessly.
"If you run out of energy and fall behind, I’m really going to leave you behind this ti."
"Huh? What are you talking about? If I hold Kanaya, I get recharged. I’m not going to use up any energy. You say so strange things sotis, Kanaya."
"It’s not strange, it’s Da-eun’s head that’s strange."
"No, listen carefully."
"I don’t really want to."
I’m sure it’s going to be sothing ridiculous.
But Da-eun didn’t care about my disinterest and started speaking.
"Well, you know, there’s that saying. No matter how much you’re scolded at work, how many insults you endure, when you co ho and see the kids who welco you, all the stress just lts away. It’s the sa with this. When you see sothing cute, it makes you forget your hardships."
"That’s completely a different story."
"For , it’s the sa story!"
"...Sigh."
As always, the conversation ended with my resigned sigh.
Arguing any further was pointless.
If I did, Da-eun would just co up with more nonsense.
I turned my head and asked Yukki, who was walking beside us.
"How much further?"
Yukki looked at the sign nearby and replied.
"Mm… about thirty minutes."
"That’s not as far as I thought."
"Yeah, I didn’t know either. But with this pace, it’s a good place for a walk to co to sotis."
"...But that’s because we’re going too fast. Most people can’t make it this fast. Look!"
Da-eun pulled out her phone and started searching for sothing.
It looked like she was moving quickly with one arm holding , but...
Did she really need to go that far? I thought to myself.
"Average hiking ti, 4 hours 30 minutes. See? But do you know how long it took us to get here?"
"...Do I need to know?"
"Of course! I have to prove that I’m not out of shape!"
Was she really that upset about it?
Da-eun, bursting with frustration from deep within, spoke loudly.
"It only took three hours, three hours! From the trail entrance to here, it was only three hours! And if you count the stops, it took even less!"
"Normally, they overestimate the ti on those signs. If you follow a map app, you usually arrive earlier than expected."
"Even so, it doesn’t get reduced by over an hour!"
We kept bickering...
It was mostly Da-eun getting worked up, though.
Anyway, I had enough of their conversation and finally broke free.
"...Ah!"
Ignoring Da-eun’s disappointed voice, I jumped up.
Finally, feeling the ground beneath my feet, I took it in calmly and spoke.
"I think we’ve rested enough, let’s go."
"...Already? It hasn’t even been five minutes."
"You said you were recharged."
"..."
She couldn’t deny what she had proudly bragged about earlier.
Her mouth, which had been babbling happily, finally shut.
If she had denied it, I was going to make more teasing remarks, but sohow she must have instinctively realized that and stayed quiet.
With her shoulders drooping, Da-eun walked behind us, looking like a cow being led to slaughter.
She had the biggest puppy eyes, filled with tears.
"Can’t you at least hold my hand...?"
"...Da-eun, are you a kid?"
"Hmph."
"Then why did you want to hike if you’re going to complain this much?"
"I didn’t expect it to be this much of a forced march... The price for not reading the clients’ preferences properly is too heavy…"
Making a half-crying sound, Da-eun followed behind , and we resud our hike.
It was a weekday, and it was still early enough that I thought there wouldn’t be many people. But surprisingly, there were quite a few people on the sa path as us.
So looked like families, while others seed to be in groups.
Although there was no unity among the groups, there was one thing they all had in common.
"Hello, are you here with a friend?"
"Hello! Yeah, I’m here with my friend."
"It’s nice to see. Is that your younger sibling? They look so young, coming to a place like this with their older sibling, it’s really admirable. My kids can’t stop fighting whenever they see each other..."
"Hehe. My younger sibling is quite impressive."
As we passed by, we greeted so people with eye contact or exchanged pleasantries.
Whether it was just a simple greeting or a conversation with it, it was the sa.
"It’s not sothing you have to do, but what’s the harm? It doesn’t cost anything, and if a small greeting makes soone happy, it’s not a bad thing, right?"
"Hmm… I see."
Though I didn’t think I would do it, I could understand the aning behind it.
In short, it was a ‘make the best of it’ kind of situation.
"...It’s a bit different, but whatever."
Da-eun quickly wiped the awkward expression from her face.
We didn’t stop and kept moving forward after passing a lady who was resting for a bit.
Da-eun’s breath had been shallow for a while, and even Yukki, though she didn’t show it, had tiny beads of sweat forming on the back of her neck.
I, of course, was fine.
If I set my mind to it, I could easily climb this mountain in no ti.
But, it was good to know the end was in sight.
"Ah...!"
Suddenly, Da-eun’s pace quickened.
She, who had been lagging behind us all this ti, now sprinted ahead, passing us.
Yukki, not wanting to lose to her, ran after Da-eun’s back.
"Finally...!"
The artificial stairs ended, and a wide sky opened up before us.
I had been worried about the weather when we first started, but the blue sky welcod us, as if to say my worries were unnecessary.
Below, a lake glead green, perfectly mirroring the sky.
It looked like the sky had extended down to the earth.
As we approached the lake, we stopped, blocked by a pillar.
"When you think of Jeju, you think of Hallasan. When you think of Hallasan, you think of Baengnokdam, but surprisingly, it’s hard to see this view."
Da-eun, noticing my approach, spoke up.
But her gaze remained fixed on the lake.
"The fog often rolls in, and even when the water collects, it quickly drains away. So, they say you need good luck to see this view."
After speaking, Da-eun finally turned her head.
Her brown-tinged eyes narrowed slightly.
"In that sense, we were really lucky."
How about it? Wasn’t it worth coming?
Though her voice didn’t reach , her eyes clearly said that to .
"Yeah."
I returned the smile on her face, placing one on mine as well.
And, without taking my eyes off Da-eun’s face, I responded.
"It’s beautiful."
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